Caroling bell system

ABSTRACT

This invention describes an improved caroling bell system in which the bell striker means is driven by a rotary drive means which includes at least one rotating arm. The striker means comprises a flexible element which supports a striker ball. The flexible element is fastened rigidly at one end and the rotating arm is adapted to strike a blow on the flexible element, causing it to move in the direction of the bell surface, so that the striker ball will strike the surface of the bell. The striker means can be positioned inside the bell, or on the outside. More than one striker means can be used on the same bell, striking it at different positions, in order to get different harmonic content from the bell.

[ 'Oct.7, 1975 CAROLING BELL SYSTEM [76] Inventor: Alvin J. Huber, 5738E. 61 P1.,

Tulsa, Okla. 74136 [22] Filed: Nov. 5, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 412,838

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No.323,273, Jan. 12,

1973, Pat. No. 3,769,870.

[52] U.S. Cl 116/167; 84/103 [51] Int. Cl. G10K 1/072; GOlF H08 [58]Field of Search ..1l6/171,155,169, 143, 116/148, 167, 158; 84/103, 406,407, 404

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 521,024 6/1894 Hamletl16/l67 X 2,296,000 9/1942 Ojalvo 84/404 X 3,076,960 2/l963 Knutson116/155 X 3,769,870 ll/l973 Huber 84/l03 Primary Examiner-Richard C.Queisser Assistant Examiner-Daniel M. Yasich [57] ABSTRACT Thisinvention describes an improved caroling bell system in which the bellstriker means is driven by a retary drive means which includes at leastone rotating arm. The striker means comprises a flexible element whichsupports a striker ball. The flexible element is fastened rigidly at oneend and the rotating arm is adapted to strike a blow on the flexibleelement, causing it to move in the direction of the bell surface, sothat the striker ball will strike the surface of the bell. The strikermeans can be positioned inside the bell, or on the outside. More thanone striker means can be used on the same bell, striking it at differentpositions, in order to get different harmonic content from the bell.

13 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures US. Patent Oct. 7,1975 3,910,225

,CAROLING BELL SYSTEM CROSS REFERENCE To RELATED APPLICATIONS This is acontinuation-in-part of copending-applica-v tion Ser. No. 323,273, filedJan. 12, 1973, entitled CAROLING BELLS, by the same inventor, soon'toissue as US. Pat. No. 3,769,870. US. Pat. No. 3,769,870 is inserted byreference into this application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION tromagnetically operated bar carrying astriker ball so that when a signal is applied to the magnet, the ballwill be caused to move and strike the bell.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of this invention toprovide an improved striker means for bells. It is a further object ofthis invention to provide a striker means for bells in which acontinuing striking of the bells is maintained, so long as theelectrical signal is applied. It is a still further object of thisinvention to provide a multiple bell carillon which has improved soundgenerating properties, and which can be played in accordance withelectrical signals of a musical selection. Each of the bells are tied tothis source of electrical signals through a separate band pass filterwhich is wide enough to cover the natural frequency of the bell.

These and other objects are realized and the limitations of the priorartare overcome in this invention by using a rotary driven striker meanswhich, instead of providing simply a single impulsive striking of thebell, provides a continuing series of mechanical contacts so that thetone of the bell is continually reinforced, so long as the motor drivecontinues. The striker means can be mounted inside or outside of thebell and can be introduced through the closed end or the open end of thebell. The striker means comprises at least one striker ball supported ona flexible element which is fastened at one end to a rigid support. Therotating drive means includes at least one rotating arm which is adaptedto strike the flexible element and cause it and the striker ballattached thereto, to move in the direction of the bell surface so thatthe striker ball will strike the bell.

The flexible element can be a simple linear wire or small diameter rodor flat strip mounted more or less parallel to the surface of thebell'so that as the rotary drive means turns, and the rotating armstrikes the flexible element, the striker ball will be driven againstthe bell and there will be a continuous repetition of the strikingeffort. The rotating driving means can have one striker arm or aplurality of angularly spaced striker arms. There can be more than oneflexible element and striker ball, adapted for striking by the samerotating arm and there can be more than one striker ball operatingagainst the inner and/or outer surface of the bell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other objects of thisinvention and a better understanding of the principles and details ofthe invention will be evident from the following description taken inconjunction with the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 represents in elevation a cross section of one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 represents a view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 as seenperpendicular to the plane 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates a view of an embodiment in which the striker means isplaced outside of the bell.

FIG. 4 indicates a multi arm rotary striker means.

FIG. 5 represents an embodiment showing a helical coil for the flexibleelement and including a plurality of striker balls placed at differentpositions along the flexible element.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS This invention is acontinuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 323,273, whichapplication is entered into and made part of this application byreference. There are a number of drawings and corresponding descriptionsin application Ser. No. 323,273 which will be referred to and which willhave the same force and effect as if they were physically made part ofthis application.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 represents in vertical crosssection one embodiment of this invention. It comprises a bell 12 whichis supported by means 14, which are well known, to a rigid support. Arotary drive means comprises a motor 16, drive shaft 18 and rotating armmeans 20. The motor is supported by means 15 (well known in the art) tothe same support means 14 which holds the bell. While the motor is showninside the bell, it can be mounted outside the bell as in FIG. 3, andcan be mounted outside of and on top of the bell with the shaft 18 beinginserted through an opening along the axis of the bell, as in FIG. 2 ofapplication Ser. No. 323,273. A corresponding motor driven striker meanscan be inserted into the bell from the open bottom end thereof, as inFIG. 2 of application Ser. No. 323,273.

The striker ball 26 is supported on a flexible means 22 which can be ametallic wire or thin rod or strip of suitable elastic properties, whichis supported rigidly at its upper end by means 24. The rotating armsystem 20 is shown in FIG. 2, which is a view taken perpendicular to theplane 2-2 of FIG. 1. It is seen that the rotary drive means 20 which ismounted on the shaft 18 may have one or two or more lobes or'arms, suchas 20, 20A, 20B, 20C, etc., in FIG. 4. The rotating arm 20 is adapted tostrike the wire or rod 22 and cause it to move outwardly, whereby thestriker mass 26 will strike the inner surface of the bell 12. If thereare more than one arms, there will be more frequent strikings of theflexible element 22 causing repetitive strikings of the hell by thestriker mass 26.

It will, of course, be clear as is well known in the art that strikermasses of different material, of different mass and different hardness,for example, will give a different tone to the bell. That is, the tonewill have different harmonic content. These choices of differentconstructions of the flexible element, different size and material ofconstruction of the striker ball, are factors which are available in thevarious embodiments of this invention.

As is well known in the acoustics, the point along the length of thebell at which the bell is struck will have some effect on the harmoniccontent of the tone so that more than one striker means, includingflexible elements such as 22' and striker mass 26' can be used with theflexible element 22 and striker mass 26, operated by the same rotarydrive means so that tones from the same bell of different harmoniccontent can be intermixed with each other by successively striking theflexible elements of the two or more striker means.

While the motor system of FIG. 1 is shown inserted and supported fromthe top of the bell it can equally well be introduced through the openend of the bell, so that the striker arm can be mounted closer to thetop of the bell, for example, than might be possible in the situationshown in FIG. 1. Such a system in which the striker system is introducedthrough the open end of the bell is shown in FIG. 2 of application Ser.No. 323,273.

In FIG. 3 the motor 40, drive shaft 42 and rotating arm system 44 areshown outside of the bell and supported by a frame 32 which alsosupports the bell 12 through the means 14. The striker means includingthe flexible element 34 which is fastened by means 36 to the frame 32,supports the striker ball or mass 38 which can be driven against theouter surface of the bell 12. This is a system similar to that of FIG. 3of application Ser. No. 323,273.

It will be clear also that other embodiments may be devised in which theaxis of the rotating arms and the flexible element can be perpendicular(or at any other angle) to the axis of the bell.

A modification of the system of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 5 in which theflexible element, instead of being a wire or thin rod, is a closelywound helical spring of small diameter, which is fastened rigidly at itstop end (not shown). This may support a plurality of striker balls 52and 56, which are spaced along the length of the flexible elements 50and 54.

Various means may be devised to provide the electrical signals to eachof the plurality of bells such as shown in FIG. 1 of application Ser.No. 323,273. Such electrical controls, which may be devised from thesystems such as in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7 of application Ser. No. 323,273, areincorporated into this application by reference. Thus. all of thesystems indicated in the prior application are adapted to use thestriker means of this invention in conjunction with other features shownin the earlier application.

While the invention has been described with a certain degree ofparticularity it is manifest that many changes may be made in thedetails of construction and the arrangement of components. It isunderstood that the invention is not to be limited to the specificembodiment set forth herein by way of exemplifying the invention, butthe invention is to be limited only by the scope of theattached claim orclaims, including the full range of equivalency to which each element orstep thereof is entitled.

What is claimed is:

1. An instrument comprising a bell, a bell striker means for use on thebell, comprising:

a. rotary drive means including at least one rotating arm supported bymeans in close proximity to the bell,

b. striker means comprising at least one striker ball supported on aflexible element fastened at one end to a rigid support, said rotatingarm exerting an impulsive force on said flexible element in its rotationand to cause said striker ball to strike said bell.

2. The instrument as in claim 1 in which the axis of rotation of saidrotary drive means is coaxial with the axis of symmetry of said bell.

3. The instrument as in claim 1 in which said rotary drive meanscomprises a rotating shaft which passes through an axial opening in theclosed end of the bell.

4. The instrument as in claim 1 in which said drive means is insertedinto the bell through the open end thereof.

5. The instrument as in claim 1 in which said flexible element is aflexible wire-like linear element.

6. The instrument as in claim 1 in which said flexible element is atightly wound helical spring of small diameter.

7. The instrument as in claim 1 including on said one bell a pluralityof striker means placed at different positions on said bell.

8. The instrument as in claim 7 in which said plurality of striker meansare inside said bell and operated by a single rotating means.

9. The instrument as in claim 7 in which said plurality of striker meansincludes at least one inside and at least one outside of said bell.

10. The instrument as in claim 7 in which each of the striker balls onthe plurality of striker means is different in physical properties.

11. The instrument as in claim 7 including at least one flexible elementwith a plurality of striker balls thereon, spaced apart from each other.

12. The instrument as in claim 1 in which said rotary drive meansincludes a plurality of rotating arms.

13. The instrument as in claim 1 in which said flexible element is athin flat strip.

1. An instrument comprising a bell, a bell striker means for use on thebell, comprising: a. rotary drive means including at least one rotatingarm supported by means in close proximity to the bell, b. striker meanscomprising at least one striker ball supported on a flexible elementfastened at one end to a rigid support, said rotating arm exerting animpulsive force on said flexible element in its rotation and to causesaid striker ball to strike said bell.
 2. The instrument as in claim 1in which the axis of rotation of said rotary drive means is coaxial withthe axis of symmetry of said bell.
 3. The instrument as in claim 1 inwhich said rotary drive means comprises a rotating shaft which passesthrough an axial opening in the closed end of the bell.
 4. Theinstrument as in claim 1 in which said drive means is inserted into thebell through the open end thereof.
 5. The instrument as in claim 1 inwhich said flexible element is a flexible wire-like linear element. 6.The instrument as in claim 1 in which said flexible element is a tightlywound helical spriNg of small diameter.
 7. The instrument as in claim 1including on said one bell a plurality of striker means placed atdifferent positions on said bell.
 8. The instrument as in claim 7 inwhich said plurality of striker means are inside said bell and operatedby a single rotating means.
 9. The instrument as in claim 7 in whichsaid plurality of striker means includes at least one inside and atleast one outside of said bell.
 10. The instrument as in claim 7 inwhich each of the striker balls on the plurality of striker means isdifferent in physical properties.
 11. The instrument as in claim 7including at least one flexible element with a plurality of strikerballs thereon, spaced apart from each other.
 12. The instrument as inclaim 1 in which said rotary drive means includes a plurality ofrotating arms.
 13. The instrument as in claim 1 in which said flexibleelement is a thin flat strip.